The Relationship between Spiritual Formation & Discipleship
What is Spiritual Formation?
Edward W. Klink III makes a simple but poignant statement that should be a disclaimer whenever the spiritual formation topic arises, “It is not easy to define “spiritual formation” …”[1] This was true when reading Earley and Dempsey’s explanation of spiritual formation. “Spiritual formation is the process of being changed to be more like Jesus. It is the ongoing, gradual process of glorious transformation into the image of Jesus by the Spirit of God that is available to every believer as a result of honestly and intentionally seeking the face of God. It is the fruit of a relationship with God.”[2]
Earley and Dempsey repeatedly state in the first chapter of “Spiritual Formation Is…” that it is a “process” and a “goal” of becoming like Jesus. Unfortunately, their definition and verbiage of spiritual formation blur the line between how Scripture communicates sanctification and the historical setting of rabbinical discipleship that backdrops Jesus’ call to be His disciple. Klink comments that this is common when defining spiritual formation, “…what some over the last decade or so have branded as “spiritual formation” is actually what the church has long been doing and what the Bible has always commanded: discipleship and sanctification.”[3] Earley and Dempsey agree. In their earlier work, “Disciple Making Is…,” they express, “The word disciple…speaks of a follower who adopts the lifestyle of his master. In the first century, a disciple-making relationship was based on intimacy and obedience.”[4] They continue, “Discipleship is not merely a matter of information remembered. It is about a lifestyle that is practiced. It is a lifestyle of absolute abandonment to loving God and obeying His commands.”[5] Thus, their last sentence is perhaps the most accurate in their definition of spiritual formation: “It is the fruit of a relationship with God.”[6]
What is the Correlation Between Discipleship and Spiritual Formation?
Considering the elusiveness of defining spiritual formation as Klink, Earley, and Dempsey reveal, it would be more suitable to explain it either as a descriptive of sanctification and discipleship, not as something separate, or as an interchangeable referent for discipleship, not disguised as something different. Since Scripture affirms sanctification as positional, progressive, and definitive (Rom. 6:19-22; 8:29-30, 1Cor. 1:2, 1Thess. 5:23, 2Thess. 2:13, Heb. 2:11; 10:14, 1Pet. 1:1-5) and affirms the practice of discipleship—the action and journey of a disciple following Jesus to become like Jesus (Luke 6:40; 14:25-27, John 8:31-32; 10:27; 13:15-17; 14:12; 15:7-8, Matt. 10:24-25; 28:16-20)—the former, not the latter, should be how spiritual formation is viewed and explained.
Spiritual formation is best understood as a description of being spiritually formed into Christlikeness through God’s sanctifying work in a believer actively following Jesus (Phil. 2:12-13, 1Pet. 1:13-23). Earley and Dempsey appear to acknowledge this, “Spiritual formation is more than doing disciplines and keeping rules. Spiritual formation is about a deepening relationship with God that causes us to look more and more like him. It grows as we pursue him.”[7] Therefore, spiritual formation is not something that needs to be done. Instead, it illustrates God sanctifying the believer through their discipleship in Christ. In summarizing James K. A. Smith, Matthew Bingham adds, “Discipleship is holistic and involves shaping men and women into people who love God and love neighbor, who want what God wants, and who long to see his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”[8] God does the progressive transformation in the believer as they follow Jesus through their relationship and obedience to Him. For instance, if sanctification is the divine highway paved by Jesus to become like Him, and discipleship is the Spirit-empowered vehicle provided by Jesus that believers use to drive on His highway, that makes spiritual formation the coordinates of discipleship. It outlines the journey of a disciple. Spiritual formation highlights—not produces, not aims, but underscores—the development of a disciple going from glory to glory toward Christlikeness.
Contemplating Earley and Dempsey’s Three Areas of Spiritual Development
Conversely, Earley and Dempsey rightly capture the spiritual yields of a disciple. “You can’t have spiritual formation without the high-level activity of the Holy Spirit, including the production of spiritual fruit through us.”[9] “In fact,” they would later add, “the first fruit of walking in and being controlled by the Spirit of God is love.”[10] Hence, love is directly related to the believer’s spiritual development.
Earley and Dempsey derive their point from Scripture. Scripture declares that love is the sole action in the two greatest commandments (Matt. 22:36-40), love for Christ speaks as obedience to Christ and vice-versa (John 14:15-21), love for other believers distinguishes Christians as disciples of Jesus (John 13:34-35; 15:12-17), love is the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), and love is greater than spiritual gifts, church offices, and even spiritual qualities such as faith and hope (1Cor. 13:1-13). This kind of love cannot be anything less than impactful. As a result, loving God (upward), loving one another (inward), and loving one’s neighbor (outward) is how a disciple is to be and mature.[11] To love upward, inward, and outward is the greatest conduit for spiritual development because it requires believers to abide in Christ, walk in the Spirit, and be considerate of others more than themselves (Phil. 2:1-4).
Similarly, as the command to love covers different directional targets, the effect of love covers every component of the believer. Since the mind, body, soul, and spirit are engaged in love (Mark 12:30), they are also the recipients of its impact.[12] The mind is renewed as it meditates on God (Rom. 8:5-6). Love leads us to meditate. The body becomes an instrument of worship as it is submitted to God (Rom. 12:1). Love leads us to submit. The soul—the incorporeal, unique personality that animates an individual’s body (Gen. 2:7)—finds its stability as it hopes in Christ (Heb. 6:19-20). Love leads us to hope. The spirit rests assured as the Holy Spirit bears internal witness that He is present (Rom. 5:5; 8:15-16). Love leads us to assurance. Therefore, as love engages each component—upward, inward, and outward—it subsequently impacts the whole person.
“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.” (1John 4:16-19, New American Standard Bible)
How Does the Holy Spirit Impact Spiritual Development?
Love is wholly impactful—spiritually (between God and believer), personally (within oneself), and interpersonally (with others). However, love is equally challenging because it contradicts one’s sinful nature (Rom. 7:18-25). Hence, it is the Holy Spirit within the disciple of Christ that aids them in their love (1John 4:11-13). “We do not have to live under the domination of the flesh a moment longer,” declares Earley and Dempsey.[13] “The Spirit-dominated life is available “in Christ.” But it must be chosen.”[14]
In Galatians 5:16-25, Apostle Paul succinctly and cogently explains the believer’s need for the Holy Spirit, connection with the Holy Spirit, and benefit from the Holy Spirit. Believers need the Spirit to not do what their sinful nature wants to do (Gal. 5:16-17, 24). Believers connect with the Spirit as they walk with and are led by Him (Gal. 5:16, 18, 25). Believers benefit from the Spirit as His fruit (or work) is produced in their lives and not that of their flesh (Gal. 5:19-23). Yet, walking by the Spirit is the premise of the whole passage. Paul starts with “walk” in verse 16 and then ends with “live by” and “keep in step” in verse 25 (Christian Standard Bible). Between these bookends, he contrasts the operation of “the flesh” that wars against believers walking by the Spirit—two diametrical forces repelling and pulling in opposite directions. And therein lies the disciple’s spiritual development: learning to persistently submit to the Spirit’s way over the flesh.
In verse 16, Paul uses the Greek term peripateite for “walk” synonymously with how one lives or conducts oneself. But in verse 18, he uses “led by” (agesthe) regarding the Holy Spirit empowering the believer to “walk” or to “keep in step.” Hence, there is no walking without being led; yet to be led, one must submit. Take human physiology, for example. The brain, nervous system, and muscles lead a person to walk. Relatedly, in the spiritual sense, the Spirit or the flesh takes the lead in walking yet in different directions. Therefore, to walk by the Spirit is to be led by the Spirit, not by the flesh, with the reverse being true also. This would be the contextual connection and connotation of “walk” and “led by.” To walk by the Spirit is not merely the Holy Spirit in the front leading the way, pointing out where to walk. It is the Spirit persuading and bringing believers along in the way to walk, similar to a parent taking their child by the hand and guiding them along—Paul uses the same Greek term and context in Romans 8:14. The disciple’s formative responsibility is then choosing who’s leading they will submit to as they walk. The more they choose to submit to the leading of the Spirit, the more they will grow in producing His fruit and crucifying the passions and desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:24). The more they choose to submit to the leading of the flesh, the more they will hinder their growth and produce its works, and succumb to the passions and desires of the flesh. Once again, “The Spirit-dominated life is available “in Christ.” But it must be chosen.”[15]
What Spiritual Formation is
Spiritual formation is not a replacement for discipleship or sanctification; neither is it the process or goal of discipleship. Spiritual formation is the coordinates of discipleship, outlining the journey of a disciple of Christ becoming like Christ. Spiritual formation underscores the disciple’s spiritual development as they love God, love one another, love their neighbor, and are subsequently transformed by that same applied love. Spiritual formation depicts what the Holy Spirit does in the disciple as they submit to being led by Him, walking by Him, and producing His fruit. Spiritual formation illustrates what’s happening within the discipleship of a believer being sanctified by God unto Christlikeness. “Spiritual formation is about a deepening relationship with God that causes us to look more and more like him.”[16] “It is the fruit of a relationship with God.”[17]
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[1] Edward W. Klink III, “Spiritual Formation and the Church,” Bulletin of Ecclesial Theology 7 (2): 55, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAi45J221202000350&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[2] David Earley and Rod Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is...: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 10. Emphasis added.
[3] Klink III, “Spiritual Formation and the Church,” 55.
[4] David Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is...: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 49.
[5] Earley and Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…, 51.
[6] Earley and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is..., 10. Emphasis added.
[7] Ibid., 9. Emphasis added.
[8] Matthew C. Bingham, “Brains, Bodies, and the Task of Discipleship: Re-Aligning Anthropology and Ministry,” Themelios 46 (1) (2021): 45, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiACO210831000750&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[9] Earley and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is..., 14.
[10] Ibid., 99.
[11] Earley and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is..., 13-19, 99-106.
[12] Ibid., 49-54.
[13] Earley and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is..., 76.
[14] Ibid., 77.
[15] Earley and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is..., 77.
[16] Earley and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is..., 9. Emphasis added.
[17] Ibid., 10. Emphasis added.
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Bibliography
Bingham, Matthew C. “Brains, Bodies, and the Task of Discipleship: Re-Aligning Anthropology and Ministry.” Themelios 46 (1) (2021): 37–54. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiACO210831000750&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Earley, David, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is...: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013.
________. Spiritual Formation Is…: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2018.
Klink, Edward W, III. “Spiritual Formation and the Church.” Bulletin of Ecclesial Theology 7 (2) (2020): 55–71. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN= ATLAi45J221202000350&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Zacharias, H. Daniel, and Benjamin K. Forrest, Surviving and Thriving in Seminary: An Academic and Spiritual Handbook. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2017.